Staff

The Calumet Imagemaker DVD Series adds two powerful titles to its collection of instructional and educational videos, The Power of Light: Studio & Location Lighting with Tony Corbell, and Black & White Film Photography: Fred Picker’s Classic Trilogy.

Nikon Inc. has announced the D3X, an FX-format digital SLR featuring extreme 24.5-megapixel resolution and superb low-noise capabilities, which provides professional photographers with commercial-quality image performance in a familiar and extraordinarily versatile D-SLR form factor. In conjunction with the groundbreaking Nikon FX-format D3, the D3X tops off a collection of flagship level, rugged, professional caliber digital single lens reflex cameras engineered to excel in all types of professional photographic disciplines from photojournalism and sideline sports, to commercial in-studio applications.

The first rental website for Scenic Backgrounds by Westcott will be available online October 31, 2008. With over 100 backgrounds to choose from, these backgrounds will appeal to everyone including the high end professional, photo enthusiast and even the parent or scrapbook mom. The rental program will allow photographers creativitywithout the expense of investing in a lifetime commitment to a background. Rentals will list at $49.99 for a 5’X6’ and $69.99 for the 6’X8’ line. Customers can save $20.00 with a coupon from their local participating dealer and the postage-paid packaging is provided to return it.

Like most of the time when I’m taking pictures, I found myself on this lonely dirt road. This particular tree caught my eye, because, in the middle of nowhere, it was as if it were admiring its own beauty. This nowhere is somewhere in Michigan, by the way.—Christine L. MontagueGranger, IN

Our Picture This! assignment this month was Sacred Spaces, places that inspire us to consider the less material and more spiritual side of life. Readers responded with many images of awe-inspiring landscapes with special meaning, places of worship, of pure light and color, and, in some cases, of places that have special meaning for the photographer. All this could go to prove that the divine can...

WD has added a high-speed FireWire® 800 interface to its popular My Passport Studio portable drive to give Mac computer users and creative professionals the fast performance they need. The new interface also makes this drive a perfect storage companion for the newly introduced Apple MacBook Pro computer. With FireWire 800/400 and USB interfaces, the new My Passport Studio portable drives offer up to 500 GB of storage capacity, are formatted for Mac.

A built-in, illuminated capacity gauge tells users how much space is available in the drive and because it is powered by the FireWire or USB connection, it is truly portable. In addition, My Passport Studio can be used to backup Mac laptops using Apple’s Time Machine application.

Availability and Price
Available now at select retailers and at WD’s online store (www.shopwd.com), MSRP for My Passport Studio with FireWire 800/400 interfaces and 500 GB capacity is $249.99 USD; MSRP for 400 GB capacity is $229.99 USD. Apple Retail Stores will feature My Passport Studio drives with the new FireWire 800 interface this holiday season.

Tamrac’s Aero Speed Pack 85 is said to be the perfect carrying solution for the photographer who prefers the comfort of a backpack, but doesn’t want to sacrifice the ability to quickly access photo gear. To allow for this, Tamrac developed an innovative Dual Access System. This unique system allows fast access through a side door when the pack is worn over one shoulder and brought around to the front of the body as well as traditional access to equipment through the front panel when the pack is removed.

Go from orange, blue and green-tinted photos to beautifully captured color with the baLens Cap and achieve a look that is not always possible with in-camera automatic white balance or with in-camera pre-set white balances. Just squeeze both side tabs of the baLens Cap for easy mounting or removal, even with a lens hood in place. Its center pinch-release mechanism and streamlined design help to prevent the baLens Cap from accidentally being bumped off, either while traveling or when shooting in a crowd.

Capturing in-water images is easier than ever for scuba divers and water enthusiasts of all levels as Olympus extends its partnership with PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors) as the official digital underwater photography equipment sponsor of the PADI Diving Society through December 2009. Announced today at the DEMA Show 2008 in Las Vegas, the two companies have extended their relationship and will continue to work closely together to help recreational divers capture amazing images during their scuba and snorkeling adventures.

Also new to the Epson Stylus Pro series is an optional high performance, in-line spectrophotometer for commercial proofing applications. Developed by Epson in partnership with X-Rite, the SpectroProofer incorporates a high performance X-Rite ILS20 spectrophotometer for extreme measurement accuracy. When driven by the latest front-end RIP software, Epson’s SpectroProofer can automate virtually any color management process in today’s printing workflows.

Whether producing sellable color or black-and-white photography, fine art reproduction or producing color accurate commercial and flexographic proofs for client approvals, the new Epson Stylus Pro series offers a range of features and next-generation technologies that allow creative professionals to produce their vision without compromise. Key features and benefits include: